Description The Miller, Robyn, is described as a big, brawny man. In today’s society, he would be described as a bully. This is because of his obnoxious character combined with his big-boned, muscular appearance. He also seems more powerful than the other characters because of his good wrestling skills and ability to rip doors off their hinges. On top of all this, he has a large red beard and red hair with a big disgusting wart on his nose. His apparel is described as him wearing a white coat with a blue hood and a short sword attached at his hip. He is an exceptionally skilled bagpipe player so is seen with a bagpipe with him most of the time. Prologue The Miller’s prologue starts with everyone lauding the Knight’s wonderful tale. The host asks the Monk to tell the next tale, but the Miller threatens to leave the group if he does not get the next turn. The host accepts, but the Reeve objects to hearing a tale that drags a man and his wife’s reputation through the mud. The Miller replies to this by arguing that unmarried men cannot be the victims of adultery. Finally, the Miller is allowed to tell his raunchy tale. Occupation As his name suggests, the miller was a man who worked in a mill. Mills were a newer invention of the medieval period where workers, called millers, pumped water and ground wheat into grain. Near the mill there would be a shop to bake bread, as the two jobs were intertwined. The miller’s occupation tells readers that people of the medieval period most commonly ate bread. Bread was such a commonly eaten food, that many different ways to bake the bread were produced. The type of breads included what was called the “knight’s loaf,” and the “varlet’s loaf.” If the miller were to have an occupation today, he would most likely be a bartender due to his rude and outgoing behavior, and his love of alcohol.
A loaf of bread the Miller typically cooked
Social Class Chaucer explains the Miller as someone who belongs to the lower class. It is evident in the writing of the Miller’s tale that his words portray someone of lower stature based on the lack of intelligence in his writing. An example of this is the use of onomatopoeia in the Miller’s writing when characters use words such as “Teehee” and other ignorant phrases to induce excitement in a crowd. This type of writing suites the Miller perfectly based on the fact that the lower class people were thought to be extremely rude and outgoing compared to the higher class. The higher class also looked down upon the lower class in many instances due to their wild and rowdy behavior. In medieval times, lower class people would win each other over through the use of physical actions, rather than courtly behavior. An example of this is in the Miller’s tale when Nicholas “stroked her loins a bit” to get Alison attracted to him. Chaucer's Opinion The Miller is an extraordinarily obnoxious character who is seen as intimidating by the other pilgrims due to his physical appearance. He is also rude and heartless in his actions by the way he bludgeons himself around. One example of this is when he drunkenly insists for everyone to listen to his tale before the monk’s, just so he is able to deride religious leaders, scholars, and women. I personally think Chaucer disapproves of the Miller because he made the Miller a disgusting looking person, with traits that were not regarded highly in that time period. Also, Chaucer makes the Miller use exceedingly simple words to show how uneducated he believed the Miller was. Finally, Chaucer even asks the audience to skip to another tale and asks for forgiveness from the well-mannered readers. This proves that Chaucer disapproved of the Miller.
Miller's Rap The story begins with a young man, Nickolas his name rents a room to establish his fame, for he is unknown an astrologist at best attended two of the best colleges in the West when he stumbled upon this smokin' hot girl Allison she claims is her name but he skips the names and goes straight for the sex she denies him, at first, then decides its worth a try and lets down her guard for young Nickolas to take her heart after they gave into each others temptations to church was their next destination this is where they meet Absalon but all Nickolas wants to do is dart because now Absalon tries his chances with Allison's heart Nickolas thinks of a plan where he can isolate himself from this man, and John, Allison's husband whose flame is gone, so he sits in the top story for three days neglecting the ways that his friends portray to contact him finally at the third day John is the one he lets in to stay as he convinces him of this outrageous lie which in turn disguises the plan of him and Allison's love to survive in this lie he claims God is sending a flood he knows it by the stars and afterwards the planet will be as populated as Mars and only Nickolas, John and Allison will remain because they haven't taken God's name in vain now here is the plan suspend a tub from the roof of the house so when the flood comes we can get out and be safe, and live how we want to this is our fate and John buys it immediately he tries it in what he thinks is his last chance to survive so he tries as the tub is suspended in place and John is trapped in disgrace he falls asleep the plan is achieved we are alone Nickolas claims as him and Allison begin their little games, and strip, as they give into the suspense, the temptations that lead them to damnation as she fails to remain abstinent, once again, they are interrupted by Absalon who calls out his love for Allison and she refuses to even give him a chance she re-thinks it again and decides she can have some fun with this man a kiss she exclaims, climb up here and take me away for which he tries but when he gets there a surprise lays beneath his eyes as he's kissing not her mouth to his surpirse its a butt he cries as he departs for revenge is what will bring back the spark in his heart to a blacksmith he starts a brander he decides this will show her and make her demise who she confides the lies beneath his very eyes he returns to the spot of the crime where he asks for another kiss as they never expect it's a lie as Nickolas tries to humiliate this guy by farting in his face as he climbs by and cries laughing but to his surprise a hot brander lies beneath the cheeks of his butt as he cries "water" which wakes John who thinks he's in harm cuts the rope as he falls through the barn and breaks his arm and realizes nothing is flooding the nation as they all get together and have a good laugh at the situation
Works Cited
"An Analysis of the Characters of The Canterbury Tales :: Canterbury Tales Essays." Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Paper, and Book Report. Web. 08 Oct. 2010.
"Medieval Miller." Medieval Life and Times. Web. 08 Oct. 2010.
The Miller
Description
The Miller, Robyn, is described as a big, brawny man. In today’s society, he would be described as a bully. This is because of his obnoxious character combined with his big-boned, muscular appearance. He also seems more powerful than the other characters because of his good wrestling skills and ability to rip doors off their hinges. On top of all this, he has a large red beard and red hair with a big disgusting wart on his nose. His apparel is described as him wearing a white coat with a blue hood and a short sword attached at his hip. He is an exceptionally skilled bagpipe player so is seen with a bagpipe with him most of the time.
Prologue
The Miller’s prologue starts with everyone lauding the Knight’s wonderful tale. The host asks the Monk to tell the next tale, but the Miller threatens to leave the group if he does not get the next turn. The host accepts, but the Reeve objects to hearing a tale that drags a man and his wife’s reputation through the mud. The Miller replies to this by arguing that unmarried men cannot be the victims of adultery. Finally, the Miller is allowed to tell his raunchy tale.
Occupation
As his name suggests, the miller was a man who worked in a mill. Mills were a newer invention of the medieval period where workers, called millers, pumped water and ground wheat into grain. Near the mill there would be a shop to bake bread, as the two jobs were intertwined. The miller’s occupation tells readers that people of the medieval period most commonly ate bread. Bread was such a commonly eaten food, that many different ways to bake the bread were produced. The type of breads included what was called the “knight’s loaf,” and the “varlet’s loaf.” If the miller were to have an occupation today, he would most likely be a bartender due to his rude and outgoing behavior, and his love of alcohol.
Social Class
Chaucer explains the Miller as someone who belongs to the lower class. It is evident in the writing of the Miller’s tale that his words portray someone of lower stature based on the lack of intelligence in his writing. An example of this is the use of onomatopoeia in the Miller’s writing when characters use words such as “Teehee” and other ignorant phrases to induce excitement in a crowd. This type of writing suites the Miller perfectly based on the fact that the lower class people were thought to be extremely rude and outgoing compared to the higher class. The higher class also looked down upon the lower class in many instances due to their wild and rowdy behavior. In medieval times, lower class people would win each other over through the use of physical actions, rather than courtly behavior. An example of this is in the Miller’s tale when Nicholas “stroked her loins a bit” to get Alison attracted to him.
Chaucer's Opinion
The Miller is an extraordinarily obnoxious character who is seen as intimidating by the other pilgrims due to his physical appearance. He is also rude and heartless in his actions by the way he bludgeons himself around. One example of this is when he drunkenly insists for everyone to listen to his tale before the monk’s, just so he is able to deride religious leaders, scholars, and women. I personally think Chaucer disapproves of the Miller because he made the Miller a disgusting looking person, with traits that were not regarded highly in that time period. Also, Chaucer makes the Miller use exceedingly simple words to show how uneducated he believed the Miller was. Finally, Chaucer even asks the audience to skip to another tale and asks for forgiveness from the well-mannered readers. This proves that Chaucer disapproved of the Miller.
Miller's Rap
The story begins with a young man, Nickolas his name
rents a room to establish his fame,
for he is unknown
an astrologist at best
attended two of the best colleges in the West
when he stumbled upon this smokin' hot girl
Allison she claims is her name
but he skips the names and goes straight for the sex
she denies him, at first,
then decides its worth a try
and lets down her guard for young Nickolas to take her heart
after they gave into each others temptations
to church was their next destination
this is where they meet Absalon
but all Nickolas wants to do is dart
because now Absalon tries his chances with Allison's heart
Nickolas thinks of a plan
where he can isolate himself from this man,
and John, Allison's husband whose flame is gone,
so he sits in the top story for three days
neglecting the ways that his friends portray to contact him
finally at the third day
John is the one he lets in to stay
as he convinces him of this outrageous lie
which in turn disguises the plan of him and Allison's love to survive
in this lie he claims God is sending a flood
he knows it by the stars
and afterwards the planet will be as populated as Mars
and only Nickolas, John and Allison will remain
because they haven't taken God's name in vain
now here is the plan
suspend a tub from the roof of the house
so when the flood comes we can get out
and be safe, and live how we want to
this is our fate
and John buys it
immediately he tries it
in what he thinks is his last chance to survive
so he tries
as the tub is suspended in place
and John is trapped in disgrace
he falls asleep
the plan is achieved
we are alone Nickolas claims
as him and Allison begin their little games, and strip,
as they give into the suspense, the temptations
that lead them to damnation
as she fails to remain abstinent, once again,
they are interrupted by Absalon who calls out his love for Allison
and she refuses to even give him a chance
she re-thinks it again
and decides she can have some fun with this man
a kiss she exclaims, climb up here and take me away
for which he tries
but when he gets there
a surprise lays beneath his eyes
as he's kissing not her mouth
to his surpirse
its a butt he cries
as he departs for revenge is what will bring back the spark in his heart
to a blacksmith he starts
a brander he decides
this will show her and make her demise
who she confides the lies
beneath his very eyes
he returns to the spot of the crime
where he asks for another kiss
as they never expect it's a lie
as Nickolas tries to humiliate this guy
by farting in his face as he climbs by
and cries laughing
but to his surprise
a hot brander lies beneath the cheeks of his butt
as he cries "water"
which wakes John
who thinks he's in harm
cuts the rope as he falls through the barn
and breaks his arm
and realizes nothing is flooding the nation
as they all get together
and have a good laugh at the situation
Works Cited
"An Analysis of the Characters of The Canterbury Tales :: Canterbury Tales Essays." Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Paper, and Book Report. Web. 08 Oct. 2010.
"Medieval Miller." Medieval Life and Times. Web. 08 Oct. 2010.